Dimitrov vs Verdasco

3rd round in Paris and an opening match between Grigor Dimitrov and Fernando Verdasco.

These two players have 4 matches and both of them have 2 wins. It's not so strange that all of them were decided in max sets. On clay they have 2 matches and once again they are equal. This season they met once and Verdasco was the winner but that's just stats. Here in Roland Garros they also had one impressive win(Dimitrov against Sahwat, while Verdasco against Andreozzi) and one very exhausting five-set win(Dimitrov against Donaldson and Verda against Nishioka in the start of RG). I watched Verdasco-Nishioka and saw a lot of weaknesses in the Spaniard performance- infact he survived being down 4:1 and 5:3 in the final fifth set against Nishioka but the Japanese player was so tired and couldn't finish the match in his favor. Dimitrov also showed so much weaknesses against Donaldson, especially his weaker 2nd service and of course- double faults.

At first this match looks absolutely equal and the odds are closer- Dimitrov is the slight favorite in bookies eyes because of his ranking, but we don't have to hurry up too much. Both of them don't have the best clay season before RG, especially Verdasco who didn't have a single tournament on clay with stable performance and more than one win in a row- so many early defeats by Dzumhur, Cilic, Mayer, Kudla..and all of them in straight sets, that's what's more panic here. In Roland Garros he was so close to elimination in the start, but somehow survived. After that he had easy opponent who is out of top 100, Guido Andreozzi and wasn't such a problem to finish him much faster than Nishioka. Verdasco said that he has nothing to lose against Dimitrov tomorrow and that's true, but it's also the same with Dimitrov. The Bulgarian defended his points after he was eliminated in the third round during the last season.

Dimitrov has never reached more than the third round here in Roland Garros, that's his only GS tournament where he's never been in the second week. It's better for me that Dimitrov's match will be played on court 1,the bullring, not Philippe-Chatrier or Suzanne-Lenglen because the stress and pressure by the audience will be less due to the lower capacity of the court. I believe that's it's finally the BIG time for Grigor to break another personal record and take part in the second week, hopefully against Djokovic. My pick for Grigor's win is not based so much on great Dimitrov's current form, but because Verdasco is weaker than he was in their match in Indian Wells for sure. Dimitrov always has that problem on GS tours and often plays five-set dramas in the 2nd or 3rd round. Then it happens to have much easier match in the next round almost everytime in Dimitrov's favor.

Over 3.5 sets in the banker bet here and the possibility to happen is over 90% for me, but I also believe Dimitrov will finally break this curse which is over him during the years in Paris and will take part in the second week. So, that's the reason for my pick here- it's risky, of course you can see that- 3:1 correct score for Grigor, but it has value for me. I tried to give the main reasons- expect Dimitrov to win but not in straight sets, so that means 3:1 or 3:2. After five-set drama is untypically for Grigor to play another one in GS tour, so 3:1 from me! If I have to give the max as a prediction, Dimitrov will drop the third set after leading 2:0. We will see what will happen tomorrow, but if you are searching for the best options here I think over 3.5 sets or Dimitrov -1.5 games(1.80 in Pinnacle) are the best , together with Grigor's win, but that's for me, I just express my opinion and you can play against Dimitrov of course, if you want :))